 Hello everyone, I'm here with Ron Placone net neutrality activists and friend of the show. How's it going Ron? Good Mike. How are you man? I'm doing well man? So you are here to talk about the next big event concerning net neutrality because as many people know the fight is Still going on. It's an ongoing process. It's a legal battle But Ron is teaming up with fight for the future, which is a pro net neutrality organization And they are planning another day of action So Ron, let me hand this off to you and let everyone know what this is about Yes, so on June 11th It will mark one year since the FCC repealed net neutrality the Trump FCC repealed net neutrality Which you know as I know pretty much all your viewers and listeners know net neutrality is what assures We have a free and open internet without it the internet will not look it will be an unrecognizable internet That's the potential if we lose net neutrality so Since that time as you indicated we've been fighting very hard. There have been state bills There have been attempts to get Congress to overturn what the FCC did There's been a growth of municipal broadband. There's been all kinds of fights going on here One of those fights was to save the internet bill that bill was just a three-page bill I know you covered it a lot on the humanist report I covered it on get your news on with Ron and that bill basically said hey those net neutrality That repeal of net neutrality we're nixing that we're going back to what we had we're getting that neutrality back It was a three-page bill. It was very simple. It passed the house But then Mitch McConnell promised that it's dead on arrival in the Senate so unfortunately what we've seen now is that some of the Democrats have kind of withered a little bit and they're saying well, we're willing to compromise on this and Again as we both know there have been some quote-unquote Compromised net neutrality bills that Republicans have proposed that don't give us net neutrality at all We don't have title to protection. We don't have net neutrality. It's that simple So fight for the future is organizing an epic live stream on June 11th to let the FCC and Congress know that we the people Demand net neutrality net neutrality has over 80% support amidst citizens It is extremely popular all across the political aisle And it's essential to the free and open internet that has become an essential tool in our lives So we're gonna be streaming and you can tune into that stream at epic live stream.com the URL is real easy It's just epic live stream.com. There's gonna be guests throughout the day. I'm gonna be there Mike I'm hoping you're gonna be able to make some appearances. Yeah, and it's gonna be a really cool time fight for the future It does amazing work. I'm honored to be collaborating with them on this project We've been really going full speed ahead trying to build up as much momentum for this as we can We've been flooding reddit Twitter Facebook. We've been contacting people to get involved We've been you know, I've been recording segments on this everywhere that will have me I've been calling out every favor. I can from every content creator I know yourself included and we really just want to make this an amazing thing So epic live stream com for the day of action for net neutrality And if you don't mind I also got to mention I'll be in Washington DC that day And we're still working out the details on this but it looks like we might be Giving a petition to Mitch McConnell's office that will have signatures and so forth of people demanding that neutrality So it looks like we're gonna try to do that and we're gonna try to live stream that event As part of the live stream on June 11th And the reason I'm gonna be in DC is because we have the east coast leg of the progressive comedy tour right after June 11 June 12th, we'll be doing DC June 13th Baltimore June 14 15th Philly June 16th We're in New Haven Connecticut June 17th New York City and June 19th Boston, Massachusetts Tickets for all those shows are available at romplicone.com come hang out with me because it's really cool to work on this campaign It's been a it's been a long haul and it'll be fun once it's all over to just hit the road for a little bit So come grab some tickets all you out on the east coast romplicone.com and epic live stream.com on June 11th On the internet be there and you can go there now Just submit your comments to be read during the stream. Well, that's that's a lot You are all over the country So I commend you for doing that because getting me to leave my house to go to the grocery store is a lot So the fact that you're doing this is phenomenal And if you actually got footage of you delivering a petition to Mitch McConnell I'm assuming one of his aides that would be amazing because really he's the one obstacle like in the event This was voted on if the Save the Internet Act was voted on in the Senate in the event a vote were allowed What do you think the chances would be of that passing? I? Think there's a chance I don't think it's a very high chance and I don't think there's like a very high chance of Trump signing it either But what that would give you is it would really give leverage heading into 2020 It's incredibly unpopular to go against net neutrality On both sides on the left and the right to go against net neutrality So this is something that you know the Democrats could I we can't guarantee they will but they could You know really bank on and really make it a big platform point The only candidate who has spoken about universal broadband across the country thus far to my knowledge Has been Bernie Sanders Bernie Sanders talked about it a little bit in Iowa He actually brought up a lot of kind of key issues that often get overlooked because of everything that's going on right now But there's still some very important key issues. He talked about getting back to local farming Which I think is a huge issue in our country that that often goes on You know not talked about but it would solve a lot of other problems to as far as food deserts and stuff like that And he brought up the idea of universal broadband across the country Which of course would be the ultimate way to preserve a free and open internet and you know the way I look at it And we've had this conversation Mike if we don't have a solid communication platform Which today is the internet that's what we rely on How can we get anything else done? You know if we're just? Basically just tethered to the corporate media Think of all the information and all the ideas and all the perspectives that would just knock it out there We wouldn't have had a clue what was going on at dapple. We wouldn't have had a clue what was going on with black lives matter We wouldn't have had a clue what was going on with any teacher strike anywhere You know, it's the blog is fair and it's citizen journalism that gives us access to all this stuff So without a free and open internet, you know, we're screwed like like the idea of any type of positive change It is this that much harder. So yeah to me I've been saying that the internet now has become so ingrained in our lives that it is Inextricably linked to democracy itself. So it's crucial and you've got to maintain openness 100% you know, no if ands or buts so the way that I kind of view this and You can kind of add to this is that Mitch McConnell is kind of protecting Republicans and even some Democrats arguably who don't want to put their name on that new shroud because there's a lot of people We're being bankrolled by the industry Comcast donates AT&T Verizon donates So if they can kind of not vote then they shield themselves in a way Is is that kind of what you see or is Mitch McConnell just being a douche and blocking everything like he usually does? Because I think this is a little bit more tactical. Hey, those are my own if those are my only two choices I'm gonna go with both. Yeah. Yeah, but no, I mean no you make an excellent point And that's very very true. Of course now that's not to say he isn't also just a douche Yeah, I feel like I feel like you nailed it on both of those Lucy agrees. Yeah, she likes you man. She's just chilling here Lucy and I go way back Lucy, do you have anything to add to the conversation? No, she's just chilling per person free and open internet But yeah, like I think that is very true because yeah It would have a long hurdle to overcome in the Senate And it would certainly not be likely to get a signature from Trump, but it would then give leverage You know for pro-net neutrality, which there are a couple pro-net neutrality Republicans out there even there aren't many But there are a couple. Yeah, so, you know, it would kind of Have a good amount of political leverage going into 2020 and if we can hold the line until 2020 hopefully something positive happens And then we're able to get solid net neutrality on the books So, you know, we have everything to gain by having this day of action and telling We the people of the internet telling Congress telling the FCC we demand net neutrality We're not gonna settle for less You're not gonna be able to pull the wool over your our eyes the way you were with the telecom act in 1996 we're awake and we're not gonna back down. Yeah, the reason why I say that is It's because everyone wants you to think that they support net neutrality like even Marshall Blackburn I'm sure everyone remember she proposed like the shell net neutrality bill that actually was anti net neutrality But everybody wants you to think that they support net neutrality But if they don't support the Save the Internet Act They don't and I don't think they want to show their cards just yet So one more time before you go Ron tell us where to find the live stream and let people know how they can help spread the word Epic live stream.com that is the URL for the live stream. It's just epic live stream.com June 11th It's a day and a day of action It's gonna start around 8 in the morning eastern time and go all day How you can help please do share that URL spread that URL you can go to that URL now and submit comments If you want them to be read If you want to participate in the stream itself, there's an email where you can do that as well And yeah, that's happening on June 11th epic live stream.com I'll be on the east coast right after that for the progressive comedy tour romplacone.com for those tickets and Yeah, as as fight for the future likes to say it's up to us to keep the internet weird And that's what we're gonna do absolutely and look It's important that we make a lot of noise because I mean with with any political issue The momentum kind of tends to die down after a while and currently we're in this stage in the net neutrality fight where we can't really do Too much, right? It's it's happening legally We are pressuring lawmakers and whatnot But if we still make noise as individuals and let people know let lawmakers know in particular that we still Care deeply about net neutrality, then I think that this benefits all of us So June 11th, I'll be there and yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to this kudos to fight for the future They have been on it ever since this issue became an issue and I really appreciate everything that they're doing Yeah, me too, but they do some great work and it's been it's been a privilege to work with them And yeah epic live stream comm Mike and myself will see y'all on June 11th be there be there Or I'm gonna be very disappointed in you don't disappoint me Mike is a total loser. So don't hit the subscribe button, okay? And whatever you do folks do not hit the notification bell either Mike treats me so unfairly